District X-2011/09

144 MODEL AVIATION
District X
Lawrence Tougas, District X Vice President; [email protected]
Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah
ONE OF THE nicest Pattern contests in our
district is held each year at the Radio
Control Flyers Unlimited field just outside
of Oakdale, California, at the Woodward
Reservoir. It’s a beautiful site and one of my
favorite contests of the year.
Don Atwood, a fierce Pattern competitor
and all-around good guy, wrote the
following summary of the contest. I hope
you enjoy it. As always, I have more story
than space in the column, so please go to our
website at www.ama10.org to read more
and see a lot of great pictures in full color.
“Twenty-two Pattern contestants came
together for the fifth annual Oakdale Pattern
Shootout and enjoyed the field, great
weather, great food, and a well-organized
pattern get together on the weekend of June
25-26. The CDs, Dick Belden and Chris
Fitzsimmons, ran the contest and as usual
did a great job.
“The Oakdale Flying Field is located on
the north side of the Woodward reservoir,
which is roughly 10 miles north of Oakdale.
The facility has a long, wide runway that
runs NW to SE to take advantage of the
prevailing winds. The backdrop for flying is
the California Central Valley rolling hills
with the Sierras in the distance.
“There are covered pit areas and a gravel
parking lot with lots of room for parking
including huge motor homes and travel
trailers. The pit is roughly half the length of
the total runway and it has work tables with
plenty of room to move around, some bench
areas, and loads of room for chairs and
support equipment.
“There were 22 contestants with entries
in all five Pattern classes. A variety of
airplanes flew and most were electric
powered. For those unfamiliar with Pattern,
competition is divided into classes:
Sportsman, Intermediate, Advanced,
Masters, and FAI/F3A. Classes have
predefined maneuvers starting with
Sportsman and getting increasingly difficult
with each higher class up through Masters.
FAI/F3A is an international class with
maneuvers defined by the FAI competition
committees.
“The USA Pattern team representing is
selected from the F3A competitors at the
Nationals in Muncie, Indiana. The F3A
World Championship is held every other
year and moves to a different country each
time. This year, the World Championship is
in Muncie, just prior to the USA Nationals.
“For a competitor, a typical contest
consists of flying six rounds during twodays.
Contestants fly in front of typically
two judges. Maneuvers are judged against a
set of descriptions including any
downgrades for that maneuver. Each
maneuver has a K-factor associated with it,
which represents the difficulty of the
maneuver and is used as a multiplier for the
score.
“Each maneuver is judged on a 0-10
rating with 10 being perfect. The judge
writes down the score for each maneuver on
a score sheet. When the scores are entered
into the computer, software automatically
applies the appropriate K-factor multiplier,
totals all the maneuver scores, and that
becomes the contestants score for the round.
At the end of the contest, the best four of
six round scores are totaled determining the
placings.
“Contest scores were:
“Sportsman: 1) Jean Greear; 2)
Lawrence Tougas; 3) Carlos Tripodi
“Intermediate: 1) Chris Belden
“Advanced: 1) Jacob Barocca; 2) Jarvis
Johnson; 3) Dale Olstinske
“Masters: 1) Jerry Budd; 2) Greg
Frohreich; 3) Jon Carter
“FAI/F3A: 1) Matt Kimbro; 2) Jim
Kimbro; 3) Don Atwood
Models for competition are released by the
manufacturers or designed and built by
competitors. This year, there were seven
new models at the Oakdale contest. Jim
Kimbro flew his electric-powered Silent
Assassin. Most use fixed landing gear, but
Jim opted to go retro.
Matt Kimbro flew a new design by longtime
world-class pilot, Wolfgang Matt, called a
Peridot, manufactured by Oxai.
Kevin Sung’s new
Spark Evo is
manufactured by
Krill Models.
The wing features
a step back in the
LE, supposedly to
enhance snap rolls.
Jerry Budd flew his new Gaudius and won
Masters class.
Frank Capone brought his new Wind S Pro
from Sebart Models. Unfortunately, Frank’s
airplane was lost during the last round of the
contest.
“We are all looking forward to next year’s
Pattern contest at Oakdale. Thanks again to
the Oakdale club for hosting the contest. We
all certainly enjoyed it.”
—Don Atwood
National Society of Radio Controlled
Aerobatics Associate Vice President
Happy landings.
Lawrence Tougas
Vice President
1827 Santa Monica St.,
Fairfield CA 94533
Tel.: (707) 480-2053
[email protected]
www.ama10.org
Associate Vice
Presidents
Tim Attaway, Chula Vista CA
(619) 427-6392; [email protected]
Denny Baker, Brentwood CA
(925) 513-1224; [email protected]
Duke Chung, Honolulu HI
(808) 421-1094;
[email protected]
Greg Clemensen, Las Vegas NV
(702) 870-6242;
[email protected]
Kevin Houser, Oro Valley AZ
(520) 490-7657;
[email protected]
Tim Johnson, Downey CA.
(562) 965-4288;
[email protected]
Rick Maida, Morgan Hill CA
(408) 778-6885; [email protected]
Scott Malta, Merced CA
(209) 723-4202;
[email protected]
Todd Sheridan, Pleasant Grove UT
(801) 358-8345;
[email protected]
Roger Willis, Buckeye AZ.
(760) 604-6773;
[email protected]
Contest Coordinators
Ellis Hall, Fair Oaks CA (North);
(916) 217-6302;
[email protected]
Tim Attaway, Chula Vista CA;
(619) 427-6392; [email protected]
District X Volunteers
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